Putin Blames West for Global Food Prices, Denies Blocking Ukraine Wheat

Russian President Vladimir Putin reported Moscow is just not stopping Ukraine’s grain exports from moving and that international meals costs are soaring largely because of to Western sanctions. 

“We do not avoid the export of Ukrainian grain,” Putin stated Thursday, per Reuters. “The Ukrainian armed forces has mined the ways to their ports, no a single prevents them from clearing all those mines and we assurance the security of transport grain out of there.”

The Russian leader reiterated his see that the disaster hitting world foodstuff marketplaces is not due to the fact of Russia, but the West. 

In the meantime, earlier this month, the United Nations mentioned the planet faced an unparalleled hunger and food disaster. 

“The ripple effects of the conflict in Ukraine are extending human struggling much outside of its borders, threatening world-wide starvation on an unprecedented scale,” UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said in a June 20 statement. 

Continue to, Putin on Thursday downplayed the Ukraine war as obtaining an affect on the meals markets for the reason that, out of the complete environment, Ukraine’s 5 million tons of wheat caught in the place is a comparatively compact determine. 

“This is a quantity which does not influence the entire world marketplaces in any way,” he extra, noting it accounted for only .5% of world output. 

Russia, for its element, accounts for around 20% of world wheat gross sales.